PRIVACY AGAINST TRANSPARENCY: ENFORCEMENT CHALLENGES AT THE INTERSECTION OF THE DIGITAL PERSONAL DATA PROTECTION ACT, 2023 AND THE RIGHT TO INFORMATION ACT, 2005

AUTHOR – BEROZ SHERIM J* & R. THENDRALARASI**

* STUDENT AT SCHOOL OF LAW, VELS INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND ADVANCED STUDIES (VISTAS)

** ASSISTANT PROFESSOR AT SCHOOL OF LAW, VELS INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND ADVANCED STUDIES (VISTAS)

BEST CITATION – BEROZ SHERIM J & R. THENDRALARASI, PRIVACY AGAINST TRANSPARENCY: ENFORCEMENT CHALLENGES AT THE INTERSECTION OF THE DIGITAL PERSONAL DATA PROTECTION ACT, 2023 AND THE RIGHT TO INFORMATION ACT, 2005, INDIAN JOURNAL OF LEGAL REVIEW (IJLR), 6 (6) OF 2026, PG. 427-434, APIS – 3920 – 0001 & ISSN – 2583-2344. DOI – https://doi.org/10.65393/IJLRV6I643

ABSTRACT:

The enactment of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (DPDP Act) marks a defining moment in Indian information governance. Yet the statute’s most consequential provision — Section 44(3), which amends Section 8(1)(j) of the Right to Information Act, 2005 (RTI Act) — has received insufficient scholarly scrutiny. By substituting a nuanced, proportionality-driven public interest override with an unqualified reference to ‘personal data’, the legislature has created a conflict of constitutional and institutional magnitude. This article examines the doctrinal foundations of both the right to information and the right to privacy as co-equal fundamental rights under the Indian Constitution, analyses the specific legislative and institutional conflicts generated by the DPDP-RTI interface, and draws on comparative frameworks from the European Union, the United Kingdom, and South Africa to advance a case for a harmonised privacy-transparency framework. The article concludes that Section 44(3) fails the proportionality test articulated in Justice K S Puttaswamy v Union of India and proposes legislative, institutional, and interpretive reforms necessary to restore constitutional coherence.

Keywords: Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023; Right to Information Act 2005; Section 44(3); privacy; transparency; proportionality; Data Protection Board of India; Central Information Commission; GDPR; constitutional law.